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May 31 Meet The Fist, A Noir-ish Vigilante Comic Set In Old, Weird Philly

Blackstone Comics is the nom-du-com for Philly artist Brandon Bitros. On this little imprint, Bitros has been penning comics for a few years now, but it’s his most recent title with illustrator Fernando Jimenez, The Fist, that’s both caught our attention and captured a bit of our imagination. Here’s the set-up:

“Riley Reece may not look like much, just another working-class boozer with a broken family from the slums of Philadelphia. But Riley Reece isn’t just a drunk — he’s a drunk with a scret. After late night benders of agonizing self-destruction, Riley’s guilty conscience prompts him to sport a black hood and become Philly’s most feared vigilante.”

And so, as The Fist, Reece attempts to right wrongs all over a version of Philadelphia that’s both somewhat recognizable today while also feeling deeply strange and distant. To natives of the city, that might feel familiar, too — Bitros and Jimenez have tapped into the old, weird Philly some of us still remember and many more of us recall from the stories told to us by our parents and grandparents. In its way, The Fist is preserving a kind of mythic Philadelphia, and it’s fascinating to behold. Check out a trailer below, and pick up the first issue here. (Blackstone Comics will also be hosting a post-Wizard World Comic-Con afterparty this weekend; details here.)